Showcase: The Bluebottle Veins

We dig the lusciously melodic blues rock of The Bluebottle Veins, so it’s no surprise to see them signed to Cornershop’s stellar Ample Play label. That’s your guarantee of satisfaction right there.

Keen to know more, we scribbled our Showcase Q&A onto the back of a boomerang and flung it Flintshire-wards. Remarkably, it came back marked with the following answers…

How would you describe your music, if pushed?

We’d describe ourselves as rock ‘n’ roll primarily. There are some poppier moments in there too and some heavier stuff, but it’s all tied together with a mutual love of the blues.

There’s definitely a good dose of garage rock thrown in too. Imagine The Beatles, The White Stripes and The Black Keys all thrown into a blender and you’re beginning to get a rough idea of what we sound like.

Where are you based, and what do you use to record with?

We’re all based across Flintshire in North Wales, we’re not all from the same town but we’re no more than ten minutes away from each other in the car.

We don’t really do our own recordings; none of us have the know-how for that. We usually record demos straight to a phone in practice then head into a studio for a few days to lay down anything that we have, so that when everything is all recorded and finished we’re left with something that we can properly release.

Are you signed to a label? If so, how did you come to their attention?

We are currently signed to Ample Play Records for the release of our debut EP Raindrop Blues on November 11th. It’s run by Ben Ayres and Tjinder Singh from Cornershop.

They came across us through an article that John Robb had written about us on his web-zine Louder Than War.

They were intrigued by the article and then came down to watch us play at the Hope and Anchor in London. We had a brief chat with them afterward and they were impressed by our performance and offered us a contract.

Is there a full album in the works? If so, what can you tell us about it? (Feel free to be as abstract as you like…)

We’re looking to get back into the studio early next year and record our first full-length album. We’re aiming to get 10-11 tracks on it. We’re constantly writing new stuff so the rough track list that we have now could be completely different come recording time.

We have about twenty songs to choose from so no doubt there will be a lot of chopping and changing before we settle on a final order. There may be a couple of songs from the EP too which we’ll rework and re-record to get the best version of the songs possible.

Also the five-track Raindrop Blues EP will be available to buy from iTunes when it’s officially released on November 11th. There are some live performances of us on YouTube too for people to have a look at to get an idea of what we’re like live.

Which have been your most exciting gigs and/or overall moments so far?

A highlight for us was when we played a place called Telford’s Warehouse in Chester earlier this year, we had a packed-out show and it was a great night. We also have a great time whenever we go to Manchester, people really understand what the band is about whenever we go there and we always get a positive reaction from people.

It’s really great when we hear that people have come to a show just through word of mouth or that we were recommended to them by somebody else. Another obvious highlight is signing with Ample Play and getting the debut EP sorted. When it’s released will be another obvious highlight for us.

Got any more coming up? (Gigs, that is…)

We have a few shows lined up before the end of the year. We’re back playing in Telford’s Warehouse on November 8th, which we’re all really looking forward to. After that we have a couple of local gigs in North Wales. Then on December 19th we’ll be supporting Cast on their tour when they come to Venue Cymru in Llandudno, which again we can’t wait for.

We’re always booking gigs across the country however so the best place to find out about any of our shows is on our Facebook page. We gig as often as we can so we’re always updating our fans via Facebook as to when we’re playing.

Are there any obscure and/or up-and-coming acts that you’d like to recommend or give a shout-out to?

Well Gareth and Terry have been listening to a lot of Ty Segall recently, he’s a ridiculously prolific garage-rocker from America who never seems to stop working. I think we’re right in saying he released three albums in 2012 alone.

Willis Earl Beal is another one, he’s a singer/songwriter from Chicago; Dylan got hold of his album purely by chance recently and we definitely recommend you go have a listen to some of his stuff.

We’d have to put in a mention to The Joy Formidable too. They’re making massive waves in America at the moment and they come from the same town as Gaz, Mold. So it’s really great to see somebody coming from the same background as us making a name for themselves.

Locally, there’s a band called Secateurs that we really like. Some other great bands from around here are: Jack Knife, Tastes Like Animals and Black Years. Slightly further afield there’s a band from Liverpool, Alpha Male Tea Party, who are really starting to make waves at the moment. All of them are definitely worth checking out.

Finally, if you were forced to spend the rest of your days in solitary confinement, but were allowed to bring the entire works of five different artists along to tide you over, whose would you choose?

The Beatles, The Beastie Boys , Jack White and Dave Grohl. Steven wouldn’t last long without his beloved Culture Club CDs either. Can he take a poster of Boy George too?